


A Matter of Satisfaction

by delphia2000



Category: Firefly
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-16
Updated: 2009-11-16
Packaged: 2017-10-03 03:39:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/delphia2000/pseuds/delphia2000
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An AU about Simon and his mei-mei, because this is how I wanted it to be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Matter of Satisfaction

Simon was in somewhat of a fog as he approached the table where Serenity's crew still sat at their morning meal, talking and laughing as if nothing had happened.

Kaylee glanced up and asked, "Simon. How's River?"

He hardly knew how to answer that. "Fine," he decided. "She's fine. I put her to bed. She needs…a little rest."

"Well, okay, that's good. Come sit down and finish your breakfast then," Kaylee said, patting the chair next to her. His plate of cooled food had congealed into a fairly uninviting mass.

He remained standing. "Something she ate?" suggested Book.

"No," Simon answered, "She's just a little…pregnant."

Silence fell like a cow dropped from a catwalk. Then as one, they turned their heads to stare at the end of the table where Jayne lounged back in his chair.

He shifted uncomfortably and growled, "Don't look at me…I ain't the only one with a zhan dou de yi kuai rou sitting at this table."

Simon felt the numbness fading and rage beginning to boil in its place. Of course, the man would deny it, the gut-less coward.

Wash cleared his throat nervously. "As much as I hate to agree with Jayne, and of course I do, being a man of some sensibility if not even a certain amount of dignity….ah…he could possibly be correct. I mean, yes, I do have one of those, as any manly man does and as much as I'm proud of it and what it can do, but it didn't do anything, as least not what it was asked to do…"

Zoe was staring at her husband in what looked like a cross between bewilderment and lethal fury. "Wash, you got something to say?"

Wash took a deep breath and nodded. "River. She came to me…she asked…well, things she shouldn't have."

"And?" Zoe's tone was decidedly frosty.

"And nothing. I told her I'm a married man and explained a bit about having certain feelings attached to certain actions and suggested she should go talk to her brother about some things."

"Why didn't you tell me?" accused Simon, angry he been so taken by surprise by the entire situation.

"Tell you?" Zoe echoed, "Tell you? How about telling me?"

"I'm sorry. I probably should have but maybe I felt you'd be the kind to shoot the messenger in this case," Wash apologized to Simon. "It's not a situation I've had to deal with before. And you, my love, would you have believed me? I could hardly believe it myself. I kept asking myself why she came to me, I mean, besides the obvious manly thing. I thought maybe I'd been giving off some kind of unconscious signals to her or something…"

His voice dribbled off into nothing as he watched his wife digesting all he'd said. Zoe shook her head. "She's just a child…a curious child."

"She ain't no child," Kaylee said quietly and the implications rocked Simon.

"Kaylee?" he asked, shaking his head at the same time as if he could deny the very idea.

"I had my first when I was younger than River," Kaylee pointed out. "If she wants to know, wants to try things, then she's old enough. It's no big deal, Simon. It's just natural and all."

Inara spoke up, "Kaylee is right. It's normal for a young woman to want to explore and test out her…powers."

"She's far from normal. Did you teach her this?" accused Simon.

Inara looked furious for a second. "I'll assume you are upset and not in control of yourself right now, Simon and forgive you. No, it's obvious she did not come to me or she wouldn't be pregnant, would she?"

Simon ran a trembling hand through his hair as he took hold of his emotions. Insulting a Companion of Inara's quality was hardly becoming of his upbringing. "My apologies, Inara. You are correct…I spoke out of frustration. I just never expected…well, at least not this soon. I'd hoped she would be better and maybe someday, well married first and well,…just not now."

Just when he thought he'd gotten himself in hand, Jayne spoke up. "We ain't heard nothing from our fearless leader."

Mal was cradling his mug and staring into it as if trying to read the future in the tealeaves. "Mal?" asked Simon, almost fearing to hear the answer to his unspoken question.

"I think my private life is none of your business, doc…" Mal started, but Simon cut in harshly, "Great, even you! Maybe I asked the wrong question. Maybe it should have been 'could everyone who hasn't had sex with my sister please raise your hands.' I'll start."

He raised his hand and glared at the silent table before continuing to rage. "Maybe she's a child and maybe not, but there is no question that her mental state should have precluded any…sexual….I thought you were my friends, at least some of you, or maybe like family, but how you could betray me and River and our trust…"

Mal stood up, setting his cup aside as he faced the angry doctor. "It's done, Simon. It is what is. Question now is why you need to know who the father is? You going to make someone marry her, because if that's your core-planet tight-ass thinking, I'm going to have to point out the obvious that no single, available man at this table is what you would call good husband material. Even the one married one is questionable," he added garnering a glare from both Zoe and Wash.

"Captain's right," Book said softly. "Pointing the blame finger won't make a difference to River right now."

Simon let it sink in. He hadn't thought beyond the basics. He'd wanted to pound someone's face into the table, not hand his sister over to the man who done this. He was a doctor. There were…options. "You're right, Shepard, I didn't think this through. I know what needs to be done."

He whirled and headed to the infirmary. One by one, they followed.

He searched out a syringe, clean needle and began to hunt thru his medicine chest. There were several choices, equally effective.

"Simon, what are you doing?" asked Kaylee.

"My best for mankind and taking satisfaction that this time, Jayne Cobb doesn't breed."

Mal spoke up, "And if it's not his, is my seed good enough for your precious gene pool?"

Jayne pushed through to stand menacingly, his arms crossed as he asked, "What if it ain't none of ours? How many times you lost track of her on planets only to find her in some bar or with some stranger? Maybe it's Badger's kid. Or one of them high muckity-muck Lords you ass-kiss. Then it gonna be good enough to keep?"

"This isn't the Core, doc. River won't be shunned for being a single mother," Mal assured him. "Out here, it's not a 'life-potential,' it's a baby, no matter how far along she is. Out here, we don't throw lives away so easily."

Shepard put out a staying hand as Simon took up a bottle. "Son, you don't have the right to do this."

"The right to play God, Shepard? I'm a doctor. We do this every day." Simon shook his head. "How can she have a baby? Half the time she doesn't even know where she is. She could walk off and leave it someplace…."

It was Kaylee's turn to add her hand to the Shepard's on his arm. "We are family, Simon, no matter what you think right now. We love River. We'll all help." She looked around. "We'll all help, right?"

There were answers of 'sure,' 'of course' and 'absolutely.'

Simon put dejectedly dropped the syringe and with a sigh, sat down on the wall bench. "Then, I guess we're going to have a baby."

Kaylee smiled broadly. "Babies are so much fun. Better than kittens."

**********************  
3 years later  
*********************

Simon stared at his letter to his mother where a baby finger was tapping on one of his words…a misspelled word, he realized. "Thank you, mei-mei," he told her as he reached for his eraser. He didn't often get the chance to get a letter to his mother and the last thing he needed was proof that he was losing his education along with the last of his tight-ass Core prudery.

"Here you are. Sorry, Simon. She got away from me," Kaylee apologized as she shifted little Ivan from her hip. "Naptime, you little monkey. Come with Aunty Kaylee," she ordered taking the little girl's hand.

"Need help?" asked Simon.

"Nope, got it under control," Kaylee assured him. "Zoe just finished feeding Ivan and she and Wash are going out for supplies."

"Take a nap yourself," Simon told her as he leaned over to kiss the swelling belly that loomed by him. "Doctor's orders."

Kaylee smiled as she kissed him soundly. "Yes, Papa Bear."

Simon watched as she waddled down the hall, musing on the strangeness of a mechanic who cared for her niece and the pilot's babe with all the competence of an Earth mother. Even though Zoe had delivered with ease, the memory of the agonizing hours River suffered would always be with him. He insisted they would stay planet-side here where Kaylee could deliver in a hospital and Mal in a fit of good humor agreed, perhaps knowing that there was no comparison between Zoe's warrior body and Kaylee's more delicate constitution. They'd all helplessly watched as River's life had bled out with the baby's birth on a far rim planet. She'd lasted long enough to name her daughter Ariel, giving Simon a knowing look before she'd faded away.

He never asked if she knew who the baby's father was and even though there were ways to check, he hadn't bothered. From the babe's blood type, it could be either Mal's or Jayne's. Equally, it could have been a stranger's. It never really mattered, he decided. It was enough that, in a way, he had his mei-mei back; this one whole and safe from harm. And obviously, equally brilliant, he thought as he corrected the word she'd pointed out. In that, there was a great deal of satisfaction.

The end.


End file.
